Sweet Things... Updated Baby Blog

25 Weeks – Oct. 8th - Well, I wish this was a “feel good” entry, but I’m preoccupied and stressed by the fact that I failed my gestational diabetes screening test last week.  I’m trying to remind myself of the stats.  Apparently, 25% of women fail this initial screening test and only 5% end up actually being treated for gestational diabetes.  The numbers from my screening weren’t drastically off (150 when the cutoff is 140), so my treatment would be diet, exercise and additional blood tests and ultrasounds… assuming I failed my second test, which is the part I’m most stressed about.  The first test went like this:  I showed up to the lab and drank a pony bottle of flat orange soda that had 50 grams of glucose in 5 minutes.  At first, I thought that this test seemed much better than the one with Andrew.  The orange flavor didn’t seem as bad as the lemon lime one I had with him.  But, after 4 minutes of trying to get this stuff down, I was not sure I was going to make it.  I did.  And then I sat for an hour in the waiting room, feeling like pretty horrible, before they called me back and drew blood.   Since I failed this test, I will have to take a 4 hour test: This time, I will have to fast overnight, have my blood drawn, then drink 100 grams of glucose in 5 minutes, and then for the next 3 hours, get my blood drawn every hour.  L  I AM NOT looking forward to it.

26 Weeks – Oct. 21st – This week, Grammy was out visiting, so your father and I took advantage of having a babysitter to go see the hospital you will be born in… and to have a nice dinner out by ourselves.  I’m glad we went on the tour, because it made me that much more excited for your arrival!  We were one of the only parents on the tour that were second timers, and the only ones who will have a scheduled C-section.  I think your father ended up scaring the soon-to-be new moms with stories of your brother's birth.  His excuse was, “They were asking questions, so I just answered!”  Oh well, it did remind me just how much easier it will be this time – knowing when you’re arriving, what will happen, and now, where we’ll be too.  It really is exciting to imagine your arrival is just a couple short months away!

28 Weeks – Nov 2nd - We’ve  made it to the 3^rd Trimester!  Only 11 more weeks until you’re born!  I’m writing this from the lab where I’m having my glucose tolerance test… and I’m half way done the test.  I fasted, had my blood drawn, drank the yucky solution, laid down for an hour (with warmed blankets!), had my blood drawn again, and now am writing until my next blood draw in 20 minutes.  I saw Dr. Salata this week (and will be seeing her every 2 weeks instead of every month going forward) and we chatted about my glucose test.  I am planning on going this weekend, but am not too optimistic about the results - Dr. Salata informed me I had sugar in my urine sample and (according to their measurements) I had gained 8 lbs since my last visit… double what I should in a month.  Since it took me so long to start gaining weight, I have been watching it fairly closely, and my scale does not say that I gained 8 pounds in 4 weeks. So, I’m hoping that discrepancy was just the result of a careless nurse and/or wearing heavier clothes.  I will be happy when this test is over and done with and we know the results – one way or the other.

The morning of the test...

29 Weeks – Nov 10th - WHEW!  I passed!  Bring on the cakes and cookies - I can breathe a big sigh of relief!  And, I could actually enjoy my brief trip home for work and some time with family and friends this past week.  You and I flew back to PA on Wednesday for a couple of days work in the office, and then a full day at home before flying back to CA on Sunday.  (You either loved or hated flying… not sure which one, but you squirmed as we took off into the air.)  Friday night, Aunt Amanda and I went to Grammy’s for dinner and Grammy threw me a very nice "Sprinkle" – Mom-Mom, Aunt Cyndie, Aunt Barb, Julie and Andrea were all there (poor Wendy and Brooke had to stay home sick).  They had adorable decorations, cookies and delicious food (as usual) to help celebrate... and lots of very cute gifts for you!  Then on Saturday, after I had a wonderful prenatal massage in the morning, Aunt Amanda and I met Andrea, Jen, Miranda and Kim for brunch at Domani Star – where they threw me another Sprinkle.  I ended up going back to CA with one of Aunt Amanda’s extra bags – 40 lbs full of baby clothes!  It was so exciting to get all these adorable little outfits – I cannot wait to dress you up!

 

Left to Right - Miranda, Kim, Me, Jen, Aunt Amanda, Andrea

Looking through hand me downs at Jen's house! 
Wow that is a LOT of clothes!

 

Halloween Fun

 

While Grammy was still visiting in mid-October, we headed to the pumpkin patch.  Last year, we had such a nice time picking out pumpkins and going for a hayride at Joann's Farm in Livermore, that we decided to head back there again this year.  Unfortunately, going a few weeks later than the year before meant there were a ton of people.  It seemed like every picture we tried to take had a ton of people in the background.  The day we went was also very hot and uncomfortable, so this year the experience just didn't live up to our memories from 2012.   I still managed to get a few good pictures though... hope you enjoy them!

 

After picking our pumpkins (and a week or two later), it was time to paint and carve!  Andrew loved painting his pumpkin and still asks to paint pumpkins when he sees the paintbrushes on my desk.  He still wasn't into cleaning out the insides of the carved pumpkins... maybe next year.

 

 

His finished masterpiece - painted and stickered up!

 

And our finished masterpieces.  I was in charge of drawing/painting the designs and Mike was in charge of carving.

The weekend before Halloween, there was a parade in Mountain House for all the kids to show off their costumes.  Firefighter Andrew, Thomas the Train Sebastian, and Minnie Mouse Piper had a great time walking around the fields at the elementary school, getting treats from local business people.
 

We didn't know to bring his pumpkin, so Andrew used his hat to collect candy!

Have you ever tried to get a picture of three kids under the age of 5 at once?

In preparation for Halloween night, we started taking Andrew on walks around the neighborhood to see the decorations and get used to walking with us in the dark.  As I have mentioned in previous posts, Andrew was developing "fear" just in time for skeletons, severed heads and spiders to pop up on neighbors lawns... so we wanted him to not be afraid of these new images on Halloween night.  Well, our plan worked.  It was an amazing night!  I was so proud of our little Trick-or-Treater.  He showed no fear - walking right up to strangers houses, knocking on doors and speaking to the bloody zombies or witches that answered.  It was like he'd been trick-or-treating for years. When our neighbors' son ran screaming from a blow up spider that moved as we walked up, Andrew just looked at him like, "Where's Bash going?"  (Bash is short for Sebastian) and climbed the steps to the front door.  He had seen that spider move before... :)  We literally only had to tell him what to do at the very first house, and after that he was leading the way, saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you, happy Halloween!" to everyone who gave him candy.  He barely noticed that Mommy and Daddy were watching from the sidewalk.  Having our neighbors' kids there certainly helped though, and the three of them were just pure entertainment to watch.  Luckily, it wasn't too cool of a night, so it didn't matter that "someone" had forgotten Andrew's firefighter jacket at school.  Also luckily, I just happened to sew suspenders onto Andrew's shirt to help "complete" the whole outfit while Mike was picking Andrew up from school... :)   Lesson learned - don't send your kid's Halloween costume into school when you live over 20 minutes away from said school.

On our walks around the neighborhood:

 

Heading out on Halloween night.

The suspenders worked, right?

 

Ringing the doorbell at Bash and Piper's house.

Right before Bash ran screaming away from the blow up spider.

Leading the way with lollipop in mouth...
Andrew thought he was supposed to immediately eat all the candy that he was getting.

This house was pretty scary (which my flash helped to eliminate in this picture). 
They had strobe lights, eerie music and gory decorations. 
Bash refused to go up, but with Mike coaxing Andrew a little, he didn't have a problem ringing the bell at all.

After making our way around the block, we headed home to give out candy from the front porch.  Although Andrew did not want to stop trick-or-treating initially, he soon started to get into the giving out part too.  He loved yelling at kids passing by, "Get your treat!" and wishing them "Happy Halloween" as they walked up.  I'm pretty sure we had people stop who may not have just because Andrew was yelling at them across the street and was too darn cute to pass by. 



 

 

 

I've never been a big fan of Halloween (shocking, I know), but after how much fun we had watching Andrew this year, I cannot wait for next year when we have too little Trick-or-Treaters getting in on the action!